Free Republic

Bravery isn't the first word that comes to mind when looking at these images of a Japanese log-rolling ceremony. But that is exactly what these young men are apparently proving during the bizarre Ki-otoshi ceremony, where they ride the giant logs as they are yanked down steep hills by ropes. Skidding and bumping over the rough terrain, at times the logs literally drop down the steep inclines

Romano Guardini wrote in his book on the Rosary, “To linger in the domain of Mary is a divinely great thing. One does not ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this purity, to be secure in the peace of this union with God.” Guardini was speaking of spending time with Mary in praying the Rosary, but David Mills, in his latest book, Discovering Mary, helps us linger in the domain of Mary by opening up to us the...

Dear Fellow FReepers, Some of you may recall the trip candidate Obama made in 2008 traveling to Berlin while he was behind Senator Hillary Clinton in the pols for the democrat party nomimation for President of the US (POTUS). Critics questioned the wisdom of candidate Obama's trip, because few members of his European audience were eligible to cast votes for him back here in the USA. Travelling outside the USA during a campaign made no sense to many pundits. However, Obama's Berlin appearance makes perfect sense if you're a candidate that's way behind in the pols and you believe that...

Natalie Portman reinforces stereotypes about loony veggies by 'equating meat-eating with rape' By Lucy Jones Film Last updated: October 28th, 2009 Natalie Portman has beef with carnivores Photo: PA The Huffington Post has hosted a one-off blog by Hollywood actress Natalie Portman in which she describes her journey to vegan activism. On the whole, her piece is considered, but there is one element of her missive which has angered readers, even triggering accusations that she is a an apologist for rape. Portman talks about the idea, promoted by the writer Michael Pollan, that eating meat to be polite to your...

hey folks... happy friday ... caption this !!!

A Phoenix-area pastor has started to draw protesters to his congregation after he delivered a sermon titled, "Why I Hate Barack Obama," and told his parishioners that he prays for President Obama's death. Pastor Steven Anderson stood by his sermon in an interview with MyFOXPhoenix, which reports that the pastor continues to encourage his parishioners to join him in praying for the president's death. "I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today," he told MyFOXPhoenix on Sunday. He called his message "spiritual warfare" and said...

Hey, it's a direct quote, so don't blame me.First Fan Barack Obama needs to chill out about his daughter's affinity for hoops, so says the First Lady. "Barack's losing his mind," Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey, when the TV queen asked about 7-year-old Sasha's interest in basketball during an interview for O Magazine. "I was like, 'Settle down -- don't act too excited, or she will not want to do it," Michelle Obama said.Don't forget they keep reminding us they want to protect the privacy of their children, and what better way than to go on national television and keep...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's climate czar said the Environmental Protection Agency will soon determine that carbon-dioxide emissions represent a danger to the public and propose new rules to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gas from a range of industries. Carol Browner, special adviser to the president on climate change and energy, said in an interview Sunday that the EPA is looking at a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that requires the agency to determine whether carbon dioxide endangers public health or welfare. And the agency "will make an endangerment finding," she said. "The next step is a notice of proposed...

calling for the banning of flouride and the dangers of poisoning -

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer. Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be...

OK. From what I am gathering, Ron Paul loony toons are NOT going to vote for any Republican candidate if their lord Paul doesn't win. RP himself said he could not guarantee support for the GOP Nominee should he lose. Furthermore, I do not believe most of the core RP supporters are even Republicans to begin with. They constantly despise and disparage anyone but RP. With such an inability to support a party, how can they expect the party to support them should they win? I believe the core of the RP support is Libertarian, with a healthy does of...

When Americans evaluate today's political landscape, most feel something between impotence and disapproval. So, while citizens shake their heads or shrug at the mainstream media's “top tier” presidential candidates, it is extraordinary how many are becoming overjoyed about one lesser covered candidate. Tens-of-thousands have joined the appropriately named Ron Paul Revolution, joining Meetup.com groups, putting up signs, and crossing states to attend rallies. Congressman Ron Paul's genuine message and untarnished record of promoting individual liberty for everyone, a free-market economy of wealth and abundance, and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace and free trade, has attracted vast support from diverse...

If I hadn't known better, I would have thought Fran Eaton's July 1 column, a rant against health care for poor children, was a parody of conservative positions and designed to make them look mean and stupid. But no, her condemnation of anything resembling a nurturing role for government, the "Mama state," as she calls it, was sincere. I find her views deeply disturbing but not surprising. What do conservatives stand for? Conservatives have fought long, hard losing battles against the abolition of slavery, the right of women to vote, child labor laws, the rights of workers to unionize, Social...

Maybe it's just me, but I noticed "tonal" similarities in the recent Goldman Sachs threats, and the 2001 Anthrax letters. What do you think ?

Monday, May 14, 2007 MEMRITV": Saudi Family Expert Explains Wife Beating in Islam *Clip # 1447 - Saudi Expert on Family Affairs Dr. Ghazi Al-Shimari Explains Wife Beating in Islam and States: If a Wife Licks Pus and Blood Coming Out of Her Husband's Nose - She Still Would Not Have Observed All His Rights The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ghazi Al-Shimari, a Saudi expert on family affairs, which aired on Iqra TV on May 9, 2007. Ghazi Al-Shimari: Yes. According to a hadith, Umm Zar' said to 'Aisha: "My husband is the epitome of stupidity...

ROBERT Hooper's anti-gravity machine is a huge weight on his mind, and on that of his wife Pat. The part-time inventor is almost certain it can sort out the world's woes. He says the machine's free, clean and endless power could end global warming -- or it would if only someone would take him seriously and build the damn thing. "It's driving me up the bloody wall," he says.

The president of Gambia has claimed the personal ability to cure HIV-Aids within three days.Yahya Jammeh, who has no medical training but boasts an "extensive knowledge of traditional herbal therapy", said that he would personally cure Gambians struck down by the epidemic after announcing what would be one of the great breakthroughs in medical science, if true. "I am not a witch-doctor," said Mr Jammeh, who seized power in the tiny West African country in a coup 12 years ago. "In fact, you cannot have witch-doctor. You are either a witch or a doctor." A government statement hailed Mr Jammeh's...

The Condoleezza Rice State Department is proving more adept at diplomacy than the Colin Powell State Department. Part of her success is tied to her cagey effort to move John Bolton from Washington to New York, where he serves -- minus Senate confirmation -- as the ambassador to the United Nations. Problem is, he's plowing just as wide a path of destruction through the United Nations as he plowed through overall U.S. foreign policy when he worked in Washington. Rice deserves a fair amount of credit for the change in her department. She is close to President Bush, so she's...

A few years ago a Los Angeles television anchor said: "Dodgers and Angels highlights at 11. Please watch anyway." Some viewers probably thought ABC should have said something like that when announcing Al Gore's extended interview on "This Week" last Sunday. But the interview signaled an important alteration of the competition for the Democrats' 2008 presidential nomination -- that is, if Gore means what he is saying, and he seems painfully sincere. "Less than 10 years." That, Gore warns, is all the time that "leading scientists" say we may have "before we cross a point of no return" -- unless...

"Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan said Friday that she's troubled by the death of al-Qaida's top operational terrorist, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, predicting that it will actually make things worse for U.S. troops in Iraq. "I suspect it's gong to make the insurgency in Iraq worse," she told Cincinnati, Ohio's 9News. The peace crusader added that the expected increase in violence "will just prove to me that our presence in Iraq is just fueling the violence, fueling the insurgency." "The killing and the cycle of violence has to stop," Sheehan insisted. The California pacifist was in Cincinnati to join with the...